WARNING: For Smart & Open-Minded People Only

Take the blue pill, and you go back to before. Take the red pill, and see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Reading this post is like shoving a fist full of red pills down your throat.

You’ll want to chase it with a few shots of warm whiskey.

This is a thought exercise. It’s not meant to be academic or scientific, but it is powerful.

You may begin to doubt things you thought you knew. You may begin to see everything you were taught in school in a different light. Even your daily routine may change.

Remember: you were warned.

Make yourself comfortable and concentrate on these words you are reading right now.

As you start to read and become immersed in this story, I’d like to ask a small favor of you.

Think back to a time when you were engrossed in a book or movie. Remember that feeling of being in a different world.

Some of what you read here may be shocking at first. Some will make sense immediately.

Right now, just pretend the facts are true. You can question everything later.

There was a war between two countries.

We’ll call them Kyletopia and Duckland.

The war ended.

You know nothing about this war except for the treaties which ended it.

You read them and see the following:

- Kyletopia will pay for Duckland to rebuild its military.- Kyletopia will pay for Duckland’s civilian damages.- Kyletopia will give military intelligence reports to Duckland.- Kyletopia will give Duckland information on its technology, secret or classified.- Duckland will keep a portion of Kyletopia’s military for its own defense.- Duckland may use Kyletopia’s army against Duckland’s citizens if there are riots or unrest.- If Kyletopia wants to send more troops into Duckland’s part of the world, it must first notify Duckland.- All military expenses are paid by Kyletopia.

Who won the war?

The answer is obvious:

Duckland won!

Or did it?

You probably suspect that I’m up to something here.

You’re right.

Just like you thought, it’s an analogy.

The terms above are taken from real treaties, from a real war.

A real big war, actually.

Have you guessed which war yet?

Since you did such a good job pretending, I’ll go ahead and tell you.

World War II.

Kyletopia is the United States. Duckland is Japan.

If you want to re-read the treaty then go ahead. Replace “Kyletopia” with United States and “Duckland” with Japan.

You may be thinking there’s no way this is all true.

You’re right to be skeptical. It’s healthy and smart.

But for the sake of the rest of this post, can you assume the facts above are more or less correct?

To be fair, I read the treaties and trade agreements. You can have a look at all the sources tomorrow.

Now, you’re faced with quite a dilemma.

From the terms of the treaty which you just read, Japan should have won the war.

But you know the U.S. won the war, and you know that Japan lost. Right?

After all, American warplanes dropped nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. You’ve seen the photos and maybe a video clip. It must be true.

But then you think about the treaty terms you just read.

Some questions you might wonder:

Why does Japan own $1.2 trillion of American debt?

Why did America give Japan $2.4 billion in grants and trade credits after the war?

You’ve had debt and bills to pay.

When you owe money to someone, who has the power?

You may also think about all the Japanese products America buys. Sony, Nintendo, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Toyota.

Why do they never seem to buy any of our stuff?

In just the last decade, the trade difference was $793 billion from America to Japan.

Now that you think about it, you remember something you heard or thought years ago. Something that didn’t make sense. Maybe you heard it in school or read it in a puzzling newspaper article.

Glitches in The Matrix.

Now comes the $1 million question.

If Japan won the war, then why does everyone say that America did?

You’ve read this far. You’re a smart person. You can figure out why.

It’s a gag you see all the time in American movies (funny, that).

Remember those old Western movies where Cowboys fight Indians?

After several battles, the Indian Big Chief realizes he can’t win.

He goes to the Cowboys to make a deal.

The Indian land is full of beavers.

Beaver skins are worth big money in New York and London.

Big Chief makes the Cowboys a great offer.

The Indians will trade beaver skins exclusively with Cowboys. The Cowboys will get a discount.

But there’s a catch.

Not only does he want peace, Big Chief wants to continue to be Big Chief.

Chiefs that lose wars don’t stay chief for long.

In return for peace and favorable trade terms, the Cowboys pretend to surrender to the Indians.

The Indians celebrate their victory.

Now that peace has returned, Indians start shooting beavers again instead of Cowboys.

The Indians are happy because they won the war. Big Chief is happy because he stays chief.

The Cowboys are happy because they get rich.

“Hmmm,” you might be thinking. “There just might be something to this.”

The question I leave you with today is this:

If even a little bit of this is true…

Then what else could be true?

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